Estuarine Living Marine Resources in the Gulf of Mexico

The Estuarine Living Marine Resources (ELMR) Program is a joint effort between National Service's Strategic Environmental Assessments Division and laboratories of the National Marine Fisheries Service. The objective of the program is to develop a consistent database on the spatial and temporal distribution, relative abundance and life history characteristics of fishes and invertebrates to enable comparisons between and among species and estuaries. In the Gulf of Mexico, the distribution and abundance data have been coimpiled for 44 species in 31 estuaries. Twelve species are invertebrates with the three species of commercial Penaeus represented. In addition to the distribution and abundance data compiled for each species in each estuary, a species profile is developed concentrating on the estuarine aspects of the life history, particularly range limits to environmental conditions. Distributional and relative abundance data are presented for brown, white and pink shrimp for the estuaries of the Gulf of Mexico. Highlights are given for data information gaps and peculiarities for several estuaries. Life history information is summarized in tables based on habitat associations, biological attributes, and reproduction. Focus is centered on areas of limited knowledge.